Guest of Honor

David B. Coe

David B. Coe is a winner of the William L. Crawford Memorial Fantasy Award, given by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts for the best book or series by a new fantasy author. His works include the LonTobyn Chronicle trilogy, five books in his Winds of the Forelands series, the Blood of the Southlands series (currently at 3 volumes), and various short fiction. His most recent releases are The Dark-Eyes' War (book 3 of Blood of the Southlands) and Robin Hood (a novelization of the movie directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett).

Artist Guest of Honor

Melissa Gay

Melissa Gay describes her artistic interests as covering "Science Fiction, Fantasy, Gaming, Horror, and Speculative Fiction of All Stripes." Even a brief perusal of her work finds all of that and more, including some remarkably detailed botanical illustrations and darling children's art. Melissa has a BA in Studio Art from the University of the South (aka Sewanee) but claims that as a "very slow learner…all my illustration skills were absorbed on the job as I have gone along." Perhaps so, but however her skills developed we're happy for it.
Her work has been featured by many companies (including Apex Press, DOJ/Hero Games, Evil Hat, Frontiers Nashville, Llewellyn Worldwide, Minigame Magazine, Mythopoeic Press, Phage Press, Rising Image Productions, and Third Eye Games) and snapped up by many private collectors.

You may be as likely to find Melissa in Gaming at Con†Stellation as in the Art Show. She says she's shy but loves to talk to people and welcomes your approach—whether it's to talk about art or reading or life in general, or to join her at the gaming table. You can find out more about Melissa at her website—MelissaGay.com—which includes a blog and plenty of examples of her work. You can see more of her work in various places around the web including The Dresden Files RPG website and Epilogue.

Fan Guests of Honor

The Moon PrincessesMaybe now they'll send a headshot!

The Moon Princesses—Julie Wall, Toni Weisskopf, & Linda Zielke—have been friends for mumbledy-mumble years and are renowned in fandom(←What's That?) for the parties they throw at conventions plus a general level of welcome frivolity. Of course, each of them is also accomplished in fandom in her own right. Individually and collectively they've worked on more conventions, published more fanzines, and generally engaged in more fanac(←What's That?) than you can shake a stick at. One of the three is also known for major achievements on the pro side of the fence (Hint: she goes by T.K.F. Weisskopf over there), having risen to be publisher of Baen Books several years ago.

But we've invited the trio as this year's Fan Guests of Honor in large part because they had the nutty idea to throw together a bid to bring the 50th DeepSouthCon(←What's That?) to Huntsville and to provide the bulk of the committee from across the southeast rather than asking Huntsvillians to fill all the key roles. That means we have a con to go to right here in town that we don't need to run. Cool. Sounds worth honoring to us!

Mistress of Ceremonies

Stephanie Osborn

Stephanie Osborn is a former payload flight controller, a veteran of over twenty years of working in the civilian space program as well as various military space defense programs. Stephanie is retired from space work and has moved on to be a heck of a writer. She sometimes clams she's still fairly new at this "author stuff," but if so you wouldn't know about it by looking at the body of her work. Her website—www.Stephanie-Osborn.com—lists over a dozen novels (some co-authored with Travis S. Taylor or Darrell Bain) and a small handful of anthology appearances. Stephanie was such a big hit as our Mistress of Ceremonies at Con†Stellation XXX in 2011 that we've asked her to do it again :-)

Special Guest

D.B. Jackson

D.B. Jackson (the new pen name of an established, award-winning author) specializes in historical fantasy. D.B. is the author of Thieftaker Chronicles, just out from Tor Books in July 2012. TC—the first book in the new series Thieftaker—is an urban fantasy set in pre-Revolutionary Boston. The second book in the series, Thieves' Quarry, is currently scheduled for 2013. You can see sample chapters from both books on D.B.'s website—www.dbjackson-author.com—or you can sample his work in the short story "The Tavern Fire," which appears in the 2011 anthology After Hours: Tales from the Ur-Bar, Joshua Palmatier and Patricia Bray, eds. After Hours is a DAW book and includes fifteen tales of fantasy, history, and intrigue.

In addition to his website, you can check out DB's Facebook page, follow him on Twitter, or read his blog. Sharp-eyed observers may notice a strong resemblance between D.B. and another Con†Stellation guest.

Also Expected to Attend

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In addition to our Guests of Honor, Mistress of Ceremonies, and Special Guest we have a great lineup of other guests. This list will be updated as more guests are confirmed.

Les Johnson

Les Johnson

Les Johnson describes himself as a NASA physicist, manager, author, husband, and father—though probably not in that order. At NASA, he is the Deputy Manager for the Advanced Concepts Office of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville AL. He uses what he calls his spare time to write (popular science books/articles and now science fiction), read (science fiction), and fulfill both the roles of husband and that of father to his two children.

Les's first foray into writing science fiction is Back to the Moon—written with Travis S. Taylor—the story of (not surprisingly) mankind's return to that body after decades of absence. He's alwo the co-author (with Gregory Matloff and C Bangs) of the non-fiction Paradise Regained: The Regreening of Earth. You can learn lots more about Les at lesjohnsonauthor.com or you can check his Facebook page and his Linkedin page.

Joe Dickerson

Joe Dickerson

For the longest time, Joe Dickerson believed that he had been hatched by aliens and released in the woods in southern Illinois only to be found and raised by some of the local, back-water folk. Sadly, that was not the case, but such thoughts did make his errant childhood much more interesting, and might explain some of the finer points of his personality. At an early age, he discovered speculative fiction and soon preferred to engross himself in the works of Lovecraft, Herbert, McCammon, and other such literary greats than to interact with the rest of the outside world. Early in 2004, Joe, frustrated with the low number of speculative fiction markets available, founded the online speculative fiction magazine Aberrant Dreams, where Joe currently operates as managing editor and editor-in-chief. No one, not even Joe, can predict the direction Aberrant Dreams will take in the next few years, but he can guarantee the ride will be entertaining, to say the least. He invites you to make the journey with him. You can find out more at the Aberrant Dreams publishing website.

Rachael Hill

Rachael Hill

Referred to as the “Gothic Rachael Ray,” Rachael Hill grew tired of collecting scar tissue and broken bones and decided to try her hand at cooking. With her devilishly twisted sense of humor, Rachael has crafted recipes of such temptation that one’s very soul may be in jeopardy from tasting. Her cookbook, Cuisine from Beyond, was released in 2012 and showcases many of her original diabolical dishes. However, her creativity could not be quelled by her skills in the kitchen. She has also risen as a self taught photographer, specializing in many photographic genres, notably, live concert photography, which has afforded her the chance to contribute to the horror novel All the Darkness in the World by Andy Deane. Early in 2011, Rachael joined the Aberrant Dreams team where her contributions (and cooking skills) could be put to good use.

You can take a little peek inside Rachael's mind—if you dare—by taking a look at her blog.

J.F. Lewis

J.F. Lewis

J.F. Lewis is the author of the Void City series published by Pocket Books. His first book, Staked, resulted in his excommunication, but he assures us he doesn't bite nor does his head spin around… though he wouldn't put it past his characters to do such things. Jeremy thinks it's pretty darn cool that his works have been translated into Italian and French. An avid reader, J also enjoys sushi, popcorn, lukewarm sodas, and old black and white movies. His two favorite activities are reading comics to his kids and typing into the wee hours of the morning. Fortunately, like the protagonist of his Void City novels, he needs very little sleep.

Marc Gunn

Marc Gunn

Cats. Science Fiction. Renaissance Festivals. Irish drinking songs. Nowhere else but from the bizarre imagination of Marc Gunn would those four elements be so neatly integrated. Nicknamed “The Celtfather,” Gunn is a champion of the Celtic MP3. He say he's given away over 10,000,000 MP3s since he began his Celtic music career in 1999. He allows fans to download and share his most-popular songs straight from his website for free.

Gunn is an award-winning acoustic folk musician rooted in the American Celtic song tradition—Celtic music, the Traditional and the Twisted. His musical instrument of choice—the autoharp—continues to surprise musical veterans and fans a like for it’s unique sound and spirited energy.

His latest album combines drinking songs and fantasy music. Don’t Go Drinking With Hobbits is a Lord of the Rings-inspired album highlighting the hobbits’ love of eating, drinking and song.

L.R. Barrett-Durham

L.R. Barrett-Durham

L.R. Barrett-Durham considers herself a Jane Of All Trades. Her first novel, Never Trust a Sorcerer, is an epic fantasy self-published in September 2011. While working on the second book in her "Trust Series," Always Trust Your Honor, she met E.G. Glover who quickly became her co-author on a paranormal romance series. Together they finished the first volume, Fear the Beast Within, in just thirty-seven days; it came out just one day apart from Always Trust Your Honor. The second book of the "Fear Series," Fear the Thirst Within, was published in May 2012.

L.R. is a native of North Alabama and not only an author, but a freelance artist in several media. She illustrated the cover of each of her four books; designs jewelry taken right from the pages of those books; and makes fantasy stained glass dragons, gargoyles, and custom pieces.

E.G. Glover

E.G. Glover

E.G. Glover's first novel, Fear the Beast Within, was published in January 2012 so he considers himself quite new to "the novel-writing scene." E.G. says he flirted with shorter fiction in high school—writing poems and short stories—but it wasn't until recently that his dream of writing a novel became a reality. Four short months later, he and co-author L.R. Barrett-Durham had two novels in print, when book two, Fear the Thirst Within, appeared.

An Alabama native, one of his hopes with the "Fear Series" is to prove that a romantic story can be told with a male's point of view entwined and still hold its romanticism.

Cat Faber

Cat Faber

Cat Faber lives in eastern Tennessee. She writes and sings songs about science fiction and fantasy subjects, often playing the mandolin or octave mandolin as accompaniment. With a little technological aid she's even been known to play both on the same song. Cat wrote about twenty-five songs last year and finished an album, The King's Lute, in July of 2012. Just about anything may find itself song-fodder if she happens to be passing by—she recently wrote a song about various forms of solar power which she started while hanging her clothes out to dry. As a result, she has enough material for a second album and intends to start recording soon. She also builds and paddles cedar strip canoes.

Eric Flint

Eric Flint

Eric Flint's writing career began with the science fiction novel Mother of Demons. With David Drake, he has collaborated on the six-volume Belisarius series, as well as a novel entitled The Tyrant. His alternate history novel 1632 was published in 2000, and has led to a long-running series with several novels and anthologies in print. In addition, he’s written a number of science fiction and fantasy novels. Flint has also been the editor for over 2 dozen reprints of classic science fiction novels and collections.

Flint graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1968, majoring in history (with honors), and later received a masters degree in African history from the same university. Despite his academic credentials, Flint has spent most of his adult life as an activist in the American trade union movement, working as a longshoreman, truck driver, auto worker, steel worker, oil worker, meatpacker, glassblower, and machinist. He has lived at various times in California, Michigan, West Virginia, Alabama, Ohio, and Illinois. He currently resides in northwest Indiana with his wife Lucille. You'll find more about him on his website, including an extensive collection of snippets of work—much of it from upcoming novels.

Gerald W. Driggers

Gerald W. Driggers

Gerald W. Driggers is an Aerospace Engineer who lays claim to being a space visionary and who enjoys touring North America by travel trailer with wife Carol and Wilson the cat. Gerald was heavily involved in space launch and colonization efforts in the 1960s and 1970s, before realizing that industry and government leadership did not share his vision for the future. Events, he says, validated his concerns, and he subsequently enjoyed careers in various engineering pursuits. Gerald now expresses his insights and visions for human evolution in space through science fiction. For details, search the web for “gerald w. driggers” or he invites you to visit his blogs at Earth-Mars.com and spaceagedropout.com (though the latter is still under construction).